This is perhaps the least appreciated
and so most abused element we deal with. CCS offer
to manage this relative minor, but absolutely essential
activity.
To begin with, first year’s equipment warranties
are void unless that equipment is regularly serviced.
This is a matter not understood by some – until
their cars are mentioned.
We advise that service and maintenance contracts are,
where costs are proven to be competitive, kept with
the original installer for the first year at least.
This avoids the debate regarding possible faults that
might appear during the settling in period. It is
during the first year that the vagaries of a system
will be discovered, and need noting.
The low profile of the visiting engineers and their
eventual familiarity with the site personnel seem
to lead sometimes to problems of security breach,
computer operation downtime and poor servicing.
We recently found a case where service and maintenance
charges had been paid by a client to a contractor
who had not been on site for at least three years
and whose work was being carried out by another contractor
– who was also being paid!
In another, a service engineer kept recording that
the standby diesel generator jacket heater required
attention. It was ignored – until the occasion
during the winter, when the power failed – and
so did the generator – because it was frozen!
Unless the client has an engineer in his employ, able
to understand the service and maintenance requirements
and reports, the matter ought to be delegated to someone
who does.
Validity of equipment failure call-outs is another
matter where experienced arbitration is required to
determine whether the matters are genuine, due to
poor servicing or client induced.
The matter of security continually tests the adequacy
of the systems set in place. We remind clients that
most problems related to computer room equipment damage
occur due to people inside that room. Whilst we are
able to design adequate access control systems for
protected areas, someone also needs to be able to
vet the technical activities intended by service engineers.
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